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Middlemore Homes - How the Index was Compiled

The Index is derived from microfilm copies of three different Middlemore documents covering the period 1872 - 1886:

History Books 1, 2 and 3: 1872-1876, 1876-1884, 1884-1888
Application Book 1: 1877-1895
Settlement and Reports Books (S&R): 1876-1886

In addition, government RG17 files was searched for information provided by Dr Middlemore or his deputies to the Canadian Government. This material includes lists of children for the years 1874, 1875, 1877, 1878, 1879, 1881, and (for Union children only) 1886, sometimes with their ages or first settlements, and the names of ships on which they travelled.

The information extracted from the different documents included name, alias or adoption name, married name (if available), the age of the child at a particular birthday, date of admission to the Home, the name and address of the parent or guardian (if available), the date the child left the Children's Emigration Home for Canada (not always the sailing date from Liverpool), the name of the receiving family, the number and dates of settlements and the visitation reports for each child, the name and address of the first receiving family and the page numbers and number of pages (sheets) of information. This information is filed alphabetically, by child.

From this information, the name, alias, adoption or married name, age, age date, and date the child left the Children's Emigration Home for Canada, the name of the ship and the Province of first settlement were used to make up the Index.

Unfortunately information is not necessarily complete for each child as the data recorded changed over time. Further, not all children who applied for admission actually entered the Home, and not all children who were admitted came to Canada. Often only one child in a family would come to Canada, but sometimes other members of the family would be brought to Canada years later.

The Index applies only to those Middlemore children who were brought to Canada. It is expected that an Index of children who did not come to Canada but for whom there are records in the Middlemore documents will also be posted at a later time.

Explanatory Notes

Application Book:

Contains the records of children seeking admission to the Children's Emigration Homes, and usually the report of a visitor to the child's parent or guardian in the child's home. Not all children admitted into the Home after this book was started in 1877 were recorded as seeking admission (quite possibly because the applicant on behalf of the child was well known to Dr Middlemore, or the child was ordered admitted to the Home by a magistrate or other official). It is for this reason that so many of the children who arrived in Canada afer 1878 do not have Application Book records.

Age:

The age and age date for each child are taken from Middlemore documents. Problems arose when entering the dates related to the age because they could be recorded in the History or Admission Books in one of four ways:
  • age in years on date of application/admission
  • age at a specific date (past or next birthday)
  • age in specified month and year
  • age in a specific year

Because of the likelihood of misinterpretation, the date for a given age is recorded in four ways in the Age Date column in the tables:

  1. child's age in years when taken into the Home, e.g., aged 5 (no date except for the date of admission which for example might be October 9, 1876). Recorded in the Age Date column as 'Bf Oct 1876' (Bf = before, indicating that the child had reached the age of 5 before information was entered in the Book, and had had its birthday within the past 11 months of the date of application/admission.)

  2. child's age at a specific date, e.g., aged 9, November 15, 1876. Recorded in the Age Date column as '1876 11 15'

  3. child's age in a specific month, e.g., aged 7 in April 1878. Recorded in the Age Date column as '1878 04 00'

  4. child's age in a specific year (rarely used), e.g., aged 7 in 1876. Recorded in the Age Date column as 1876 00 00

Names:

The names in the Index are based on the Middlemore History Books and Middlemore Settlement and Reports Books, where names are inscribed on the top of each page in copperplate writing, and the Application Books which are not always easy to read and sometimes information is overwritten. As any volunteer knows, one of the most difficult problems associated with indexing is interpreting the handwriting. It is, therefore, of no surprise that the transcription of the less-than-perfect handwriting often results in the misinterpretation of a name. Thus, names, especially surnames, can be changed are as follows:
  • error in transcription given the difficulties in reading the handwriting
  • use of an alias (usually noted in the History Book)
  • adoption name given to the child in Canada (usually noted in the S&R Book)
  • married name, often noted in letters or reports in the S&R
  • error in recording a child's name, or apparent confusion between children
  • shortened or pet names which are different from formal Christian names

For this reason, the aliases, adoption and married names and most variations of a surname are all included in the Index with a notation in the 'Also Known As' column giving the 'usual' name 'See (name of child)' or without the 'See' meaning that the usual name is in the Surname column. Alternative forenames are indicated with a slash, e.g., Elizabeth/Edith or brackets e.g. Eliza(beth).

The surnames JONES, WILLIAMS and other common names often present difficulties because many children have identical forenames, e.g., there are six different William JONES in the Index, only one of whom has a second name. For this reason, the different William JONES have numbered surnames(1) - (6). This numbering has been done for all children with identical names.


For Further Information on a particular child:
If you have found a child of interest, contact BIFHSGO. Our volunteers will provide the specific references to the child in the Middlemore documents. They will also provide advice on how to obtain photocopies from the Library and Archives Canada. At this time BIFHSGO is only able to respond to email enquiries [please address to ].